Xiongjing – The Bai Emperor Fengyang has “reluctantly” decided to pull out of the Royal Opening of the Imperial Congress over health concerns, according to a press release by the Imperial Palace.
Instead, heiress-apparent Princess Yu Shenghui will open Congress on her father’s behalf. She will read the Imperial Speech that will set the agenda for the Bai legislature in the months ahead. The Emperor had authorised his daughter to open Congress on his behalf in an Edict issued today.
The Royal Opening of the Imperial Congress marks the start of the parliamentary year on 1 August. The lower-house Yihuiting held its elections recently in June, and this marks the first Congressional session of the new government.
This will be the first time the Fengyang Emperor will miss the constitutional ceremony ever since he assumed executive powers in 1989. The Palace added that the 81-year-old monarch had expressed his wish to open Congress but decided to take the advice of his doctors to withdraw from the ceremony over mobility problems.
The Emperor’s activities have been scaled down ever since he suffered a stroke last December. Nevertheless, he still hosted various ceremonies, including the swearing-in of incumbent Chancellor Huang Cailin and his 81st royal birthday party this month. Princess Yu had been accompanying her father to these events.
The Emperor plans to go ahead with other appointments and lower-scale activities this week. This includes regular meetings with the Chancellor and the new Cabinet, held virtually or by phone, and some private engagements within the capital.
Upon learning of the Emperor’s health, the Chancellor wrote a short message “wishing for the Emperor’s speedy recovery” and “fully respects His Majesty’s wishes to rest and is grateful to the Princess for agreeing to deliver the speech on his behalf.” (edited)
This will also be the Princess’ first Royal Opening. She had attended previous Openings, and observers commented this would not be something “unfamiliar” for the heiress since she had already been prepared for the role alongside other Royal duties.
In the Speech, Chancellor Huang said his government’s priority “is to grow and strengthen the economy and help ease the cost of living for families”. On his campaign trail, Huang has pledged to address the cost of living and “boost economic growth” through a string of new social programmes, with promises to enhance existing ones “that will benefit more people in need”.
In addition, the Speech might include other agendas to address national security issues. A proposed Bill would create a new criminal offence curtailing the activities of existing protest groups to prevent “disruptive” protests “hindering the progress and way of life of Bai society”.
